How Milo Ventimiglia Helped Mandy Moore Prepare For Motherhood
As Season 6 of NBC's "This Is Us" comes to a close, castmates of the series Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia have reached new heights in their off-screen friendship, with the actor even giving Moore parenting tips.
The "A Walk to Remember" star first welcomed her son August "Gus" Harrison with husband Taylor Goldsmith in February. The newborn is Moore's first child, and changed the actor's perspective on her role as mom-of-three, Rebecca Pearson, on "This Is Us." "I wish I could go back just to be able to carry those feelings and this newfound knowledge," Moore told People in July about how her baby boy changed her worldview. "I feel that would change the game for me. But I have one more season to carry all of this with me."
When the actor first began shooting "This Is Us" back in 2016, she didn't have first hand motherhood experience to utilize in her portrayal of Rebecca. In fact, everything Moore learned on set is now playing a role in how she raises her own son. "Because so much of the show revolves around kids of a certain age — whether they're 8 year olds or 12 year olds or teenagers or adults — I feel like I maybe have a little bit more experience as he gets older and less with him as a baby," admitted the star. Luckily for Moore, the cast and crew is filming the final season of "This Is Us" and lending a hand at giving her all the support she needs in her new role as mom.
Why Mandy Moore wishes she could restart This Is Us
In the last season of "This Is Us," lead actor Mandy Moore hopes to only enhance her role as Rebecca Pearson, thanks to all she's learned from raising her newborn Gus. "I feel like I've garnered less about that phase of early, early childhood," Moore began to People. "Obviously, being a parent is a practice in patience and being present. I just chuckled to myself now thinking I wish I was just starting the show now because I finally crystallized like, 'Oh, I know what it means to be a mom now,' even though I've only had five months of experience."
The celeb admitted to the outlet she was "starting from scratch" as a mother when Gus was born, but did take a few helpful tips from her "This Is Us" co-stars. "It was funny, I remember very early on, definitely the first season, having to shoot scenes where we were chaotically changing diapers and just trying to handle triplets, and Milo (Ventimiglia) having to show me how to swaddle, how to change diaper," said Moore. "I knew nothing!"
As the "Because I Said So" star's quote makes clear, Milo Ventimiglia did know a thing or two about babies and Moore's relationship with him is just as strong as their marriage on-screen.
Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore are 'foodies' on set
Fans have grown to love Jack and Rebecca Pearson as a somewhat picture-perfect couple on "This Is Us," but what may surprise them is how their relationship off-screen began with a pretty awkward encounter.
Speaking to Glamour, Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia admitted they hadn't met prior to their chemistry reading for "This Is Us," and their first scene together involved some nudity. "It was the first scene on the first day of the entire project. It was weird because it never times out like that!" Moore said about the scene where Ventimiglia was in nothing but a small terrible towel. "I remember reading it, and it said in the script, 'Jack covers his bits with a towel,' and I'm like, 'This is network TV, there's no way they're going to show his butt! He'll be in briefs or nude underwear...' And then you came in and were wearing a robe, and you took the robe off for the first time, and I was like, 'Oh, that's his butt!'"
The awkwardness soon passed for the actors, who told Us Weekly in 2019 they'd become lunch buddies on set. "We eat a lot of lunches together," Ventimiglia said. "We trade off who picks up lunch." The actor went on to share how they bonded over being "foodies" and their tendency to both spring for the sugar ... how sweet!